Radio Gaga (14 page)

When Ben’s car wasn’t in its usual spot when I arrived back at my flat I was disappointed and relieved all in one go. Obviously I wanted to see him but at the same time I wasn’t looking forward to explaining Mr Hassan’s new ad campaign.
Or telling him about my upcoming interview with the TV Company.

I’d just walked into my flat and deposited the junk mail in the recycling box when my doorbell rang. Immediately my pulse speeded up and I rushed to the door hoping it was Ben.

“Hi Chloe.”

The voice coming through the door intercom wasn’t Ben. It was a male voice. One I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to hear again.

“Chloe, answer the door. I know you’re in there.”

Drat, Neil must have seen my car. “What do you want?”

I suppose I sounded less than gracious, but what else could he expect after the way he’d treated me?

“Let me in, Chloe, I just want to have a chat with you.”

My finger hesitated over the button to release the door. It couldn’t have been
Neil
who’d been leaving the notes, could it? “What do we have to talk about?”

“I found something I’d accidentally packed which belongs to you.”

Pah, it had better be my missing Take That CD. I hadn’t seen that since he’d moved out. Slightly against my better judgement I buzzed him in. A few seconds later he was outside my door.

I wondered what I’d ever found even remotely attractive about Neil. In my defence I may have had a drink or two too many when we’d first met and, compared with the boyfriend before Neil, he’d appeared a model of stability and success. Actually, after the previous boyfriend, Attila the Hun would have been an improvement.

As I opened the door Neil thrust a slightly wilted bunch of pink carnations at me.

“A little present for you.
I know you like flowers.”

“Thank you.” I wondered which petrol station he’d bought them from and if he’d been at the pub before he arrived at my flat.

“Well, aren’t you going to invite me in?”

I didn’t want to let him in but if Ben arrived back and saw Neil on my doormat things might get awkward. Grudgingly I opened the door wider and stood to one side to allow Neil into the hall. Before I could stop him he’d strolled off and installed himself in my lounge.

“Oh, you’ve redecorated, very nice.”

“My mother visited.” I needed to repaint, I felt as if I was living in a dentist’s waiting room.
All that bland wall space and neutral décor.

Neil seated himself on the sofa and unfastened the button on his ‘suitable for the office’ jacket. Tamsin might be good at keeping his shirts pressed but the buttons of his shirt were straining over a developing paunch.

“Yes, I met Melody at the shops. She said you hadn’t been well.”

“Oh, the abseil thing?
It was in all the papers. I reacted badly to some prescribed medication.” More evidence of my mother’s interfering. I remembered that conversation. This had better not be some kind of delayed sympathy visit because she’d convinced Neil that I was pining away from a broken heart.

“Yes, and then I saw you on TV, with the snake.”

“Would you like a cup of tea?” The years of hostess training kicked in and the offer was out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Neil settled back in his seat, a smug expression on his face. “I don’t suppose you have any proper coffee?”

Since the rat-bastard took his percolator with him when he left that would be a ‘no’. “I have improper instant coffee or teabags, take your pick.”

His mouth took on a sour lemon pucker. “Tea will be fine.”

I headed for the kitchen. Since Neil appeared to be empty-handed apart from the carnations I guessed I’d probably been suckered into allowing him into the flat. I half-filled the smallest mug I possessed with tea and took it back through to him.

“You said you had something of mine?” I handed him his drink.

He peered into the mug and placed it down on the coffee table. “Ah, yes.”

I perched on the edge of the armchair and waited while he groped around in the inside pocket of his jacket. Finally he pulled out a hideous gold coloured ring set with a bright pink stone and tossed it down next to his drink.

I stared at it for a moment wondering if he was playing some kind of joke on me. At a guess he’d either won it in a cracker or bought it from the pound shop.

“It’s vile, cheap and tacky and definitely not
mine
. Have you asked Tamsin if she’s missing any jewellery? It’s probably hers.”

A dull flush spread across his cheekbones and he snatched the ring back up.

“There is no need for you to be rude, Chloe. I came here in the spirit of reconciliation.” He shoved the offending ring back into his jacket pocket.

I’d figured it was probably more the spirit of whisky than reconciliation that had bought him to my door.

“Why exactly did you come?”

For a moment I thought he was about to try and bluster his way out of answering the question.

“The conversation with your mother set me thinking,” he paused and flicked a small piece of lint from his trouser leg.

This sounded ominous.

“You and I were quite good together. We had a nice arrangement here.” He continued.

I was too stunned to reply.

Clearly taking my silence for acquiescence he ploughed on. “I should never have left you, Chloe. It’s a pity we allowed a small aberration of judgement on my part to ruin our relationship.” He lunged forward and grabbed my hands. “Why don’t we try again, Chloe? You know, I even considered marrying you when we were together before.”

I tried to extricate my fingers from his grasp. “I hardly think sleeping with the dry cleaner is an aberration!”

“It was a mistake. I can see that now. I never meant to hurt you, Chloe.”

I couldn’t detect any whisky on his breath, but if he wasn’t drunk then that left only one other possibility. “Neil, have you lost your marbles?”

“We can get back together, you know it makes sense. I still love you.” He shot off the sofa and pinned me to the armchair. I squirmed away as he slobbered on my neck.

“Will you get off
me!
” I managed to free my hands, place them on his shoulders and shove. He toppled backwards, narrowly missing my coffee table before landing with a thud on the carpet.

“What was that for?” He picked himself up from the floor and rubbed his backside.

“I would have thought it was pretty bloody obvious what that was for? Have you gone nuts?”

The red flush on his cheeks darkened to an unhealthy port wine colour. “But Chloe, we can make it work.”

The penny finally dropped. “She’s thrown you out, hasn’t she?”

The nervous flicker of his eyes betrayed him.

“That’s it! She’s chucked you out and you thought you could come back here.” I glared at him.

“Rubbish! Tamsin and I may have had a slight disagreement but certainly nothing major. This is about us, Chloe, you and me.
Our future.”

“Just get out, Neil.”
This was ridiculous.

“Chloe, listen…”

I interrupted him before he could embarrass either of us any further. “Go and don’t come back. Go and buy Tamsin a huge bouquet of flowers, ones which don’t come from the petrol station, and apologise for whatever it was that got you thrown out and don’t come here again.”

“But, Chloe.”
He raised his hands as if to appeal to my better nature.

I opened the door to the hall and waited for him to leave. “Goodbye, Neil.”

He huffed his way to the front door. “I must admit I’d forgotten what a shrew you could be when you become irrational. I’ll leave you to think about things. Perhaps when you’ve had the opportunity to think things through you’ll change your mind.”

“Don’t let the woodwork hit you where the good God split you.” I slammed the door shut behind him.

At least for once with Neil I’d managed to have the last word, even if it had been with one of my Gran’s sayings. My legs were still shaking from my encounter with him as I made my way back into the lounge. I supposed he could have been behind the messages but surely he would be too wimpy to damage Ben’s car.

I briefly considered Tamsin as a suspect. Neil had said she was jealous of me. However since Neil wasn’t exactly known for being the most truthful person in town I dismissed that idea. She would have damaged my car rather than Ben’s and she wouldn’t leave me flowers and poems. I wished I had something stronger than coffee in the flat but Shelly had finished the wine on her last visit.

The carnations regarded me reproachfully from the coffee table. Taking pity on their wilted condition I carried them into the kitchen and jammed them into a jug of cold water before taking them back to the lounge. I doubted if they would survive for long but I hadn’t the heart to throw them in the bin.

The sound of a car pulling up outside sent me scuttling to the window. Ben wasn’t wearing his happy face when he got out of the car. Judging from the flyer he had in his hand I guessed he’d discovered Mr Hassan’s new marketing ploy.

I braced myself and went to open the door. Ben frowned and waved the incriminating piece of paper in my face.

“When did you plan to tell me about this?” He followed me inside the flat.

“I only found out myself a couple of hours ago.”

“Long enough for you to get there and autograph a stack of them.” Ben placed the flyer down on the table where my signature was plain to see.

“Mr Hassan asked me to sign some. He’s such a nice man I couldn’t say no.” It was only a few leaflets after all. What harm could it do? By next week I’d probably be yesterday’s news.

Ben shook his head. “Please, Chloe, be careful.”

“I will.” I knew he was thinking about my stalker.

He frowned at the carnations. “Those weren’t another mystery gift?”

“No. Worse, you just missed my ex. He bought them round as some kind of peace offering.”

Ben didn’t comment, his expression said it all. I figured that now was not the best moment to tell him about the TV Company meeting.

“Merv wants to set up video and photos for the circus school.” He changed the subject.

“Oh.” I’d been trying not to think about circus school.

Ben pulled out his phone to tap in the times. “I take it it’s the usual Friday morning ready to go live on Cereal with Steph?”

I nodded. I hoped the circus school thing wasn’t going to be high wire or clowns. I wouldn’t mind juggling too much, or elephants. Actually elephants would be nice; I’d always fancied riding on an elephant.

“Okay.” He entered the data into his diary.

“So, um, any plans for tonight?” I wished he’d put his phone away and give me a hug.

He stared absently at the screen, a frown puckering his forehead. “Sorry, I’ve got to go straight out to cover a story that’s just come in.”

“Oh.”
Right.

“This looks as if it could be pretty big. I’ll probably be late back.” He tucked his phone back inside his jeans pocket and stepped forward to kiss me. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

I barely had chance to savour my brief taste of heaven. He hurried out of my flat before I could ask what the story was or where he was going.
So much for my hopes of a repeat of the previous evening.
Besides I could take a hint when someone was going off me. It looked as if it would be pizza for one and the TV for company again. I picked up the flyer from the table and screwed it up ready for the recycle box. My five minutes of fame had had a very short shelf life.

I didn’t hear anything from Ben, not even a text. When I left for work the next morning his car had gone. Either he hadn’t come home or he’d left early. It did cross my mind that he might be avoiding me.

For once I was actually early into work. Typically there was no sign of Merv so my efforts were wasted. Whenever I was late he could be counted upon to be hanging around reception like a bad smell. I get there early and he was nowhere in sight.

“I thought my watch was broken! How come you’re here so early?” Tracey asked. She ambled around behind her desk watering the spider plants with a plastic cup of water.

“I’m not always late.”

“Yes, you are.” Tracey replied mildly.

Okay, so maybe I was. “Dunno, just am for some reason.”

She lobbed her empty cup into the wastepaper basket. “I take it you weren’t with the gorgeous Ben last night, then?” A hint of a smirk played around the corner of her mouth.

“He had to work.” I told her about Neil’s unexpected visit.

“He’s got a cheek! Good for you.
Men, honestly!”

“Where’s Merv, anyway?” I leaned on the counter and helped myself to one of Tracey’s ‘complimentary for visitors’ humbugs.

She shrugged and whispered, “Don’t know. I’ve heard Steph came in alone this morning. She’s got a face like thunder and she keeps playing dirges. I’ve had three complaints already.” The switchboard lit up again as she spoke.

I left her to her work and headed for my own desk. Merv and Steph’s love life was no concern of mine. I switched on my computer and looked up the circus skills school. Rather disappointingly there was no mention of elephants. It did however have lots of pictures of clowns – eek, shudder – and even worse, it mentioned knife throwing.

Ben texted me an hour later.
It wasn’t exactly lover-like.

‘Sorry, 4 last nite.
Few things on at min.
Will call u when get chance.’

Fine, I can tell when I’m being given the let
down,
I’ve had a lot of practise. The hard lump in my chest told me I wasn’t as cool about it as I was pretending. On the bright side though, it meant I could go to the interview with the TV Company without having to worry about what Ben would think.

All I needed to do now was to pick a time when Merv was in a marginally good mood, or failing that, a bit distracted, so I could finish early tomorrow. I’d looked up the train timetable and I could get to
London
in time for the interview if I missed the last two hours of work. I’d have used the dentist as an excuse but I’d done that twice already this year.

Steph had finished and gone before Merv blew in. It was obvious that something was majorly amiss with their relationship. I decided to venture to the café for a sandwich and to test the waters for some time off.

“Hi Merv.”
I chirped as I headed for the front door.

I didn’t get a verbal response, only a glare. I made a sharp exit. Now was not the time to ask a favour.

Fred was in the café, sitting at a corner table chomping down
a large
bacon butty. He waved as I went in. I waved back and tried to ignore the blob of egg yolk running down his chin.

“Hey up, Chloe, spare seat here, lass.” Fred patted the chair next to him and flashed an eggy grin.

“Thanks, Fred.” I could see I wasn’t going to escape.

Resigned to my fate I collected my coffee and tuna mayo roll and joined Fred at his table.

“I’m glad I’ve seen you. Next weekend it’s the first of the local allotment open days. Your newspaper fella and that Mervyn were keen on you coming with me.”

I took a slurp of coffee, burning the tip of my tongue. Fred’s news wasn’t exactly a surprise. There had been a cryptic note in my basket this morning from Merv about some kind of event.

“Great.” I did my best to sound enthusiastic.

“It’s at the big allotment site over at
Carnaby Road
. They’ve got poultry and bee hives there.” Fred mumbled the last bit of information at me spraying bits of bread onto the table.

My appetite vanished as I moved my roll from the firing line. I arranged a time to meet him.

“It’ll be grand. Cracking composting system they have there. It’ll give you some good stuff for the show and for your website. Hey, I got asked for my autograph in the post office yesterday. That’ll be one up on that cheat, Stanley Frobisher.” Fred didn’t appear to have any concerns about embracing life as a local celebrity.

Then again he probably didn’t have a mystery stalker leaving him flowers and poems either. I pleaded my need to get back to work and abandoned Fred and my unfinished roll at the café. As I sauntered back to the radio station I debated simply playing hooky for the interview. Tracey would always cover for me. I could claim I was out researching pieces for Steph. The trouble was Merv always appeared to have a sixth sense when I was up to something.

Tracey was waiting for me when I arrived.

“There’s a parcel come for you.” She indicated a large brown box sitting at the back of the counter.

“I’m not expecting anything.” While I sometimes got sent promo items they tended to be CD’s or books that people hoped I’d get Steph to plug on her show. Usually they were from people I’d never heard of pedalling scary pseudo-religious theories or wonder diets. This box was too big to be CD’s or books. “Who is it from?”

Tracey shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“It’s not ticking is it?” I eyed the box suspiciously.

“Don’t be daft. It feels quite light.” She handed me a pair of scissors so I could open the box.

Carefully, I slit open the tape to reveal another box bearing the name of a well-known lingerie company.

“Ooh, looks like Ben has sent you something.” Tracey leaned in over my shoulder.

“Why would Ben send me something here? He only lives upstairs.” This wouldn’t be Ben’s kind of thing at all. The one thing I’d learned in the time I’d known him was that he was very private.

I opened the inner box to reveal a skimpy satin negligee in a tacky coral colour with black lace trim. Definitely not the kind of thing Ben would go for.

“Is there a card?” Tracey asked as I stuffed the offending garment back in the box.

I rummaged around in the tissue paper. It would be like Neil to send something
like
this but after yesterday he was probably busy trying to get back in Tamsin’s good books. I found the corner of a card and lifted it out.

“Uh oh.”
Tracey sighed as she read it. “Looks like you need to make another trip to the cop shop.”

My stalker had struck again.

‘A beautiful woman deserves beautiful things.’

“Creepy and with bad fashion sense.”
I dropped the card back in the box.
 
Tracey was right: I needed to take it down the police station.

“Maybe the police will be able to find out who placed the order.” Tracey suggested.

“Maybe.”
I knew it would be no good trying to find out on my own. The shop would simply quote the data protection act to me.

Merv appeared with a sheaf of papers in his hand and a frown on his forehead. “Why are you hanging around in here, Lark? Don’t you have things to do?”

“Her stalker struck again.” Tracey used her pen to lift the edge of the negligee from the box.

Merv’s already unhealthy complexion turned a deeper shade of puce as he viewed the lingerie. “You’d better nip to the police station then, Lark. Steph had dead roses and a threatening note left on her car yesterday.”

Tracey and I exchanged glances. I hadn’t heard this bit before.

“That’s freaky.” She shuddered.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the police station and texted Ben and Shelly when I had a chance. Shelly was only five minutes behind me when I got back to my flat She scurried into the lounge. “Oh my God, Chloe, I really hope the police will be able to find out who sent that parcel.”

“Me too.
They weren’t very impressed though. They said it wasn’t an offence to send someone lingerie anonymously and there wasn’t a threat on the card.” I made her a cup of tea while we discussed the stalker and the surprise visit from Neil. It was nice to catch up and to have company. The package and finding out about the note left for Steph had made me jumpy.

I was surprised and hurt that I hadn’t heard anything from Ben. I’d been checking my phone every two minutes after I’d sent him the message about being at the police station.

“I think he’s gone off me,” I said to Shelly as we broke open a packet of chocolate digestives.

“Rubbish.” She licked melted chocolate from her fingers from where she’d dunked her biscuit.

“Well then why is he avoiding me and not answering my texts?” I hoped she’d come up with something convincing.

“Well, I don’t know but it could be anything. Maybe his phone fell down the loo or it’s out of charge or his sister’s not well or his Mum or he’s gone undercover for a big story or…”

“Whoa!” I stopped her there before she could come up with anything wilder. “I get the picture.”

Shelly eyed the last biscuit left in the packet. “You did ask. All I was doing was pointing out that there were lots of reasons why he hasn’t called or texted you yet.”

“I know. I would like something to go right for me for once, that’s all.” Ben was the best thing that had happened to me for a long time. I’d hoped he would be the last of my long run of crap men. I slid the biscuit packet over to Shelly.

“It will be all right. Ben really likes you. You don’t want it to go too fast do you?” She dived on the biscuit.

She was right. Things had certainly moved too fast with Neil, and look how well that had turned out.

“No, you’re right. I need to stop stressing. I think it’s this stalker business that has me so wound up. At first it was cute and flattering but now it’s starting to scare me. Not so much the presents, although that’s icky but if it’s the same person who damaged Ben’s car and sent Steph dead flowers and a death threat then it’s pretty horrible.”

“I know what you mean. Listen if you want to stay with me for a while or if you want me to come here then all you have to do is say.” Her eyes were dark with concern.

“Thanks, Shelly. It’s not so bad when Ben is home as I know there’s someone upstairs. Being by myself has never bothered me before but when his car was damaged I started to wonder who might be watching me.”

She screwed up the empty biscuit wrapper and lobbed it into my wastepaper basket. “I’m sure the police will find out who it is soon.”

Shelly stayed to help me pick out an outfit for the TV Company interview. After all what do you wear to try and impress people who’ve seen you looking like a giant Easter chick with an incontinent snake as your accessory du jour?

I was much calmer by the time she went. My earlier panic and paranoia had settled somewhat and I felt okay about being alone in the flat. Hopefully I’d hear something from Ben soon or at least he would be home and I’d have someone else in the building with me.

I hoped Shelly was right when she’d said it was probably some stupid reason why I hadn’t heard from him. It would be awful if something bad had happened to him or to Tash. I had just turned out the kitchen lights ready to make my way to bed when I heard the rumble of a car engine. A sneaky peek through my blind told me Ben was home.

The sound of the engine cut off and I heard his key in the outside door. I held my breath wondering if he would ring my bell. Instead I heard him enter the
lobby,
hesitate for a fraction of a second, and then the stairs creaked as he made his way to his flat.